Shrove Tuesday/Ash Wednesday – Dharma Reflection

In the Catholic and Anglican traditions, the day before the beginning of Lent is called Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras (literally, Fat Tuesday -- a reference to the last day of eating well, before the Lenten fast). The name "Shrove Tuesday" is derived from the ancient custom of penitence, known as shriving, which has evolved into the Sacrament of Reconciliation today.

The idea behind this tradition, and later, the sacrament, was to provide the person with an opportunity to confess (acknowledge) their transgressions, and offer them an opportunity to make amends, thereby giving them absolution. One can see this as a time in which we mindfully make amends for those we have wronged, and pay our karmic debt.

But the tradition of Mardi Gras also has its roots in the Roman celebration of Lupercalia, a carnival-like fertility festival, some may recall from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, which the Roman Church decided to incorporate into its new faith, like so many other pagan traditions that were co-opted by Catholicism. Lupercus was the Roman equivalent of the Greek god, Pan -- the god of the shepherds. He was said to stand in the cave where a wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the mythical founders of Rome.

In fifth century, the Roman Catholic Pope Gelasius I formally banned the celebration of Lupercalia, and so the God of the Shepherds was absorbed into the imagery of the "Good Shepherd".

Most non-Catholics identify tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, as the day in which their Catholic friends and neighbours show up with that "odd smudge of ash on their foreheads". In the Catholic tradition, this mark is a reminder of the scriptural text that says, "From the Earth you were created and to Earth you shall return."

It is, in many respects, a day in which Catholics reflect upon the idea of impermanence and emptiness. When one thinks of Lent as a time of "penance", it takes on a feeling of punishment, but that is not the idea of penance, or more accurately, reconciliation, at all. Lent is a time in which one contemplates his or her impermanence and is reminded of the importance of making every moment count. It is a time in which we redouble our commitment to live life from a place of gratitude, mindfulness and awareness of the gift of each breath. And it is a time in which we recognise that suffering indeed exists, and that our own attachments are the cause of such suffering.

Over the next six weeks, we'll be looking at ways in which the Dharma of the Christ is applicable to our postmodern lives, and I believe some will be surprised to see the parallels between the deeper meaning of the Christian narrative and tradition and the timeless essence of the Dharma.

This past week, many of us watched with heavy hearts, as the news reports of a vibrant, loving woman, who was expecting a new child, was shot in the head by her boyfriend's eleven year-old son. The tragic news was a reminder of both, how short life can be, and of the unimaginable suffering that might go completely unnoticed, as one tries to understand how a child could be driven to murder someone who loved him.

The tragedy struck particularly close to home for us, as one of our own Dharma students and friends is the cousin of the murdered woman and unborn child.

Folks often ask me to explain to them what it means to generate Bodhicitta, and I could not help but think about that during this horrible turn of events.

Right now, stop for a moment and notice the feelings you are experiencing.

If you are like most of us, you are not only feeling compassion and sadness for the loss experienced by the murdered victims' family and loved ones, but are probably also feeling a profound sadness and genuine compassion for the eleven year-old boy -- wondering what could have caused him to make such a horrifying and violent decision. In both instances, what you have generated is genuine Bodhicitta -- the heart of compassion.

Now, I want you to consider that it seemed to come natural to most of us, to generate compassion toward the eleven year-old boy, because he is a child, and we have not been conditioned by our perceptions, opinions and delusions to automatically "hate" children, the way we might do if the murderer was an adult.

Our challenge, if we are to learn anything from this terrible loss, might be to allow ourselves to remember, for the next six weeks, the young woman, her unborn baby, her two surviving children, her boyfriend, family and loved ones... and the young boy who killed her, because he was "jealous" of the impending arrival of the new baby. Don't just remember them in your heart and thoughts, but be mindful of the compassion you feel for all of them, and each day, try to extend that compassion to include someone you might otherwise have marginalised, due to our dualistic minds.

And so we begin this period of contemplation and reflection on the call to greater reconciliation by gently noticing how our own prejudices often interfere with our own compassionate nature, and by simply choosing to begin becoming more aware of those prejudices, as they arise, so that we can let them go, and return to our compassionate centre.

It has been suggested by some that discussion of the news and world events, discussion of diversity, philosophy, relatives and so forth is "unworthy of conversation", according to a fundamentalist and literalist interpretation of the Anguttara Nikaya -- a collection of Theravadan Buddhist discourses. Perhaps for those monks, living nineteen hundred to twenty-five hundred years ago, in primitive monastic cultures, such prescriptions could be taken literally. But I find it ridiculous to imagine that any Enlightened One would suggest that we could not, in fact, gain insight from discussing everything that occurs around us today.

This is but one example of how we can use “real life” (the cosmic play created by our minds to appear as real life, anyway) as grist for the mill, rather than pretending to be “above it all” or “separated” from the world. Without disrespecting those monks for whom the sanctuary of the ancient monasteries provide shelter and formation grounds, we choose to make the world our monastery.

And therefore, commit to you, that our Dharma talks will always be relevant to our times and experiences... because in the end, as I said earlier this week, my objective is not to gain the approval of literalists or fundamentalists, but to genuinely inspire compassion, reconciliation, and to end suffering for all beings.

It is my intention, during these forty-days of Lent, to illuminate the Dharma of the Christ in a way that it can be found useful for all people, regardless of their faith (or absence of faith), tradition, or religious persuasion. These reflections will be spiritual reflections, but not religious. They will respect the Christian narrative, for those who hold it as their scriptures, without necessarily espousing any belief that the story is historical or intended for literal interpretation.

If it can prove useful for your journey, I welcome your comments, questions and discussions.

Namasté!

- dharmacharya gurudas śunyatananda
http://dharmadudeunplugged.com

 

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